Adjustable inclined shelving apparatus



E. G. SHORT 1,711,329

ADJUSTABLE INCLINED SHELVING APPARATUS Filed July 9, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet l /n van [0);

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April 30, 1929. E. (5. SHORT ADJUSTABLE INCLINED SHELVING APPARATUS Filed July 9, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lnven/or; 3 flu/2'72 6: $3072";

Patented Apr. 30, 1929.

UNITED STATES ELWIN G. SHORT, OF PORTLAND, OREGON.

ADJUSTABLE INGLINiED SHELVING APPARATUS. I

Application filed July 9,

This invention relates to improvements in store fixtures, and has for its principal object the provision of a system of shelf apparatus for grocery and other retail stores,

where goods in packages or containers should be displayed to the customer and relatively large capacity of shelf room is desired.

A further object of the invention is the provision of shelving apparatus which is adjustable in inclination from the rear toward the front, whereby goods placed upon the shelf will be caused to travel forwardly upon the shelves to fill the place of those removed.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of shelving elements and supportlng devices therefor of novel design and arrangement, through which many of the advantages of my invention are accomplished.

Other objects and advantages of the invention, and objects relating to details of construction and arrangement of parts, will be readily apparent in the course of the detailed description to follow.

The accompanying drawings illustrate by way of example one form in which my invention may be embodied, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of shelving apparatus embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary erspective view of one of the shelf supporting bar elements of the invention, with a shelf shown supported thereon in broken lines.

Fig. 3 is a similar view of one of my shelf elements.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in horizontal cross-section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a view in vertical section of the corner posts and shelf supporting elements taken substantially on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Referring to said views, I first construct a rigid frame of generally rectan ular configuration which may be built wit in a store 1 room or composed of separable units, of which that illustrated in Fig. 1 is an example. Said frame may be comprised of a base, as indicated by the numeral 1, and a top 2 and upright posts 3 supporting said top from the base. It will be readily apparent that, in the following description of my invention utilizing the illustrated example shown in Fig. 1, where a continuous builtin shelf system is desired, the upright posts, such as 3, disposed between the two opposite ends will, be modified in their structure to provide support for the shelves upon their 1 1926. Serial N0. 121,344.

opposite sides. Each said post 3 is formed on its lateral side with a longitudinally disposed groove 5 in which is received vertical spacing blocks 6, to be presently more fully described.

Horizontally disposed supporting bars 7 and 8 are provided for the front and rear of the frame, respectively. Said bars are.

formed at their ends with a squared tongue 10 whlch extends within the groove 5 of-the respective front or rear posts 3 and are sup-" ported therein at various elevations by pairs of blocks 6 of equal length, respectively. The lowermost said bar at the front of the frame, as 7 may be fixedly secured in the frame base and thereupon the blocks 6 may be supported in the grooves 5 to receive the tongues 10 of the next above bar 7. The r next adjacent bar thereabove will be similarly supported through its tongues upon a pair of blocks-6 of suitable height which. will rest upon the tongues of the bar just placed, and so on throug the height of the frame.

The supporting barsat the rear of the frame are similarly supported at relative heights with respect to the bars at the front of the frame to give the desired inclination to the shelves to be supported thereon. The front bars 7 are formed with a ledge 11 upon which the shelves 12 are supported and forwardly of said ledge the bars extend upwardly, as at 13, to a suitable elevation to provide a stop for the oods arranged on the shelves. Between the edge 11 and the stop portions 13 the bar may be channeled lon itudinally, as at 15. The rear bars 8 maydie of similar configuration.

The shelves 12 of my invention desirably consist in laterally directed lane portions 16 and a central dividing rib 1 These shelves may be composed of any suitable material, but as shown are represented as formedof sheet metal which will produce the minimum {if friction upon the articles supported therey. a sheet metal shelf of the type described which will lend rigidity and stren h to revent un-v The rib 17 forms a structure element inv being sup rted at their ends by the members 7 and 8 ing directly upon the ledges 11 thereof. ey may he s aced apart on the shelves atvarious desire distances apart to provide spaces 18 therebetween.

The goods, not shown, displayed on the said shelves are placed thereon in a line of packages of the same kind extending from the front to the rear for either the whole or a part of the distance, and the shelves will be adjusted laterally to accommodate the width of the packages so that the ribs 17 will serve as guides for the packages and a greater or less space 18 will be provided over which the goods will lie with their side edges supported on the respective plane portions '16.

Sufficient inclination will be given the shelves to insure that the packages will move forwardly-by their own avity upon the removal of a packa e at t e front end of the shelves. The goo s may be placed upon the shelves either from the front or from the rear,

in which case an alleyway will be left at the rear of the shelving apparatus from which the goods may be placed therein.

It will be seen that ready adjustments of the shelves to any inclination may be made by simple substitution of the various lengths of blocks 6 between the supporting bars and that accommodation for goods of any size ma be provided for by the shifting of the and that such changes may be made therein v as will lie within the scope of the following claim.

Having described claim, is:

In a display cabinet, a pair of front upright posts,-'a plurality of horizontal supporting bars connecting the front posts, means by which the horizontal bars are vertically adjustable on the posts, a pair of rear upright posts, a plurality of horizontal supporting ars connecting the rear posts, means by which the supporting bars are vertically adjustable on the rear posts, means rigidl connectin the front and rear posts toget ier, a plurality of shelves each consisting of two laterally directed plane portions and a central upstanding longitudinal dividingrib, longitudinal recesses in the confronting faces of the front and rear supporting bars, the opposite ends of the shelves being slidably supported in the recesses of front and rear bars whereby the distance between the ribs of horizontally adjacent shelves may be varied to support and confine articles of various sizes.

ELWIN G. SHORT.

my invention, what I 

